Bobby Cattage

One collector is trying to find a single signature from every man who ever played for the Jazz — all 370 of them, from the 1974 New Orleans team to today. For many of them, this page is the only one on the internet. Here is Bobby Cattage: what he did on the floor, a few things most people never knew, and every card that carries his name. If you own something he signed — or you know who might — there is a note at the foot of this page.

Few college players came back from what Cattage did. In April 1980 his appendix burst, costing him six operations, more than 40 pounds, and 59 days in intensive care, yet he returned to Auburn for his junior year. The Utah Jazz took him in the eighth round of the 1981 draft, 165th overall, and he played the 1981-82 season in Utah before resurfacing with the New Jersey Nets in 1985-86, 78 NBA games in all.

Between and after came the Continental Basketball Association, including the Billings Volcanos. His lone Nets season paid a reported salary of $75,000, honest wages for a player who had already beaten longer odds in a hospital bed.

HOW HE CAME & WENTUtah picked him in the eighth round of the 1981 draft, 165th overall, and he debuted that October — the only NBA season he played for the club.

Full name

Robert Lewis Cattage

Utah Jazz tenure

1981–82

Position

Forward

Born

1958, Huntsville, Alabama

Height

6′9″ (206 cm)

Weight

249 lb (113 kg)

College

Auburn

Drafted

1981, 8th round (No. 165), Utah

Why this player is hard to find

Forty-nine games for the Jazz in 1981-82. Signed items appear perhaps once a year.